R&D
Leading Edge TechnologiesThermacore originally developed copper-water sintered wick structure heat pipes for the Military/Aerospace market. This thermal technology advancement was eventually applied to Military/Aerospace applications, which Thermacore in turn used to benefit our commercial OEM customers by enabling their next generation products. At the same time, commercial adoption and repetitive, high volume manufacturing of these advanced products helps to drive down the cost of the product, which in turn comes back and benefits the Military/Aerospace sector with reduced costs. Maintaining this technology development cycle is part of Thermacore’s heritage, and an important enabling process for the Military/Aerospace market, Thermacore, and our commercial OEM customers. |
 | |
New Technology DevelopmentTo support this “High End Technology to Commercialisation” business model, Thermacore has a proven track record of new technology development which serves as a catalyst to keep Thermacore at the forefront of emerging cooling technologies and applications. Thermacore has been and remains active in new thermal technology development and the application of that technology for the most challenging thermal problems. Thermacore develops solutions and underlying technologies to meet the needs of prime contractors as well as DARPA, DOD, DOE, NASA, and NSF. A few of these emerging technologies are: | |
|
| High Heat Flux Heat Pipe Technologies | |
| The heat flux capability of a heat pipe is determined by the boiling limit in the heat pipe evaporator structure. Axial grooves, mesh screens and sintered powder wicks are commonly used in wicking structures, providing capillary pumping to return liquid to the evaporator. The evaporator wick structures also serve as extended surfaces for evaporation or boiling heat transfer enhancement. The performance data in the table shown is based on test results for copper/ water heat pipes and other single- or two-phase devices. | |
| Wick Structure Technology Heat Flux Capability | |
| Miniature, axially grooved wicks | Up to 40W/cm² |
| Mesh screen wicks | Up to 40W/cm² |
| Inverted-meniscus wicks | Up to 200W/cm² |
| Sintered wicks | Up to 350W/cm² |
| Graded wicks | Up to 250W/cm² |
| Combined pulsating and capillary transport structure | Up to 250W/cm² |
| Graded wicks with secondary liquid feeding wick | Up to 300W/cm² |
| Bi-dispersed wicks | Up to 1,000W/cm² |
| Porous metal with single phase helium flow | Up to 11kW/cm2 |
| Porous metal with single phase water flow | Up to 12kW/cm² |